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Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Patty & Bun / St Christopher's Place

Thanks again to Mr Hazeel for the photograph

Who are they?

A rather unassuming place near to the glamorous St Christopher's Place shopping district and Bond Street, just off of London's busy Oxford Street, is a small but popular burger joint called Patty & Bun. In the past, this little enterprise has been the subject of some derision on this blog by yours truly, so I am glad finally to be able to set the record straight by trying them out myself after getting there just after opening time on a Friday night.ThoughtsAs previous experience has taught me about Patty & Bun in particular, it's difficult to get in to an establishment that opens at 6am (though not on Mondays!) and regularly has a large, hour long queue out the door every single night. This isn't helped by the fact that Patty & Bun is a small, hole-in-the-wall affair of a restaurant and really deserve to get into a bigger place. In fact, they will refuse to serve groups with any diners missing and will force them to stay outside until they arrive, which served much to mine and Mr Hazeel's advantage when we arrived as a pair.A simple inspection of the menu reveals that selections are a simple affair, with a small yet boutique selection of burgers and sides that belies any complexity involved. As is very much in vogue at the moment, all burgers are encased in a brioche bun and come with a variety of different extras (chorizo relish, anyone?) that mark each as a unique selection: interestingly they also offer a lamb burger, which is something I haven't seen before and may warrant a return trip.In order to make a decent comparison with other burgers, I opted for the bog standard Ari Gold Cheeseburger with bacon, which, among other ingredients, includes tomato, lettuce, pickled onions, ketchup and their specialty P&B smokey mayonnaise. Accompaniments were simply the house chips and a portion of the "Winger Winger Chicken Dinner" chicken wings to share between the two of us. All come served in very fast-food-esque paper and polystyrene packaging that mimics a slightly gritty "East London" feel and service is prompt.On mention of the sides, I would like to start with the chicken as for me this remains the sole downside of the meal. As wings go, there's not much to talk about save the home made barbecue sauce, lathered over the chicken with a liberal garnish of spring onions. As barbecue sauce goes, it's not unpleasant but it tastes like it needs a little something extra to give it a kick.Fortunately, I'm glad to say that the same was not the case with the other sides. Like Honest Burgers, the familiar trait of adding rosemary salt to the slightly crispy fries makes a welcome return. Whilst the fries are not quite as crispy and snappy as Honest's, I would say that P&B manage to strike the best balance between soggy and crispy, leaving them nicely fried and flavourful with each bite.As a follow up, the burger doesn't disappoint either. Our waitress more or less forced us to go for a medium-rare patty for the best experience (not that we were complaining) and this resulted in a lovely layered burger of cooked outside to rarer innards. A delicious juxtaposition that benefited from the lovely P&B mayonnaise and ketchup to give it a lovely sloppy constituency. That guilty feeling of eating something that is both tasty and messy, with just a token bit of lettuce included, is something rather wonderful to behold.Perhaps the only misgiving I might have had with this burger was that the sauces did overpower the taste of the meat somewhat, but nevertheless it's definitely up there with the better offerings in London town. I just wish it were easier to get inside so more people could enjoy it!ConclusionWhile it's not much of a contest, they quite convincingly wipe the floor with the competition across the road. Like fine wine, aged cheese and Half Life 3, Patty & Bun are most definitely worth the wait.Score8.5 / 10Where can I find them?http://www.pattyandbun.co.uk/A stone's throw from Bond Street Tube station (Central and Jubilee lines).